In manually carrying out the shutter release of a camera, the operating member is usually designed to be operated with a relatively great power in order to prevent an erroneous operation. On the other hand, in a camera with a motor drive device, the shutter release is effected by an electrical signal, and a separate release operation section is often built into the motor drive device and the release resistance for preventing erroneous operation may be smaller. Accordingly, in order to reduce the energy consumption, the mirror raising mechanism is directly released without the manually operable release member in a camera using the motor drive device.
However, the charging of the operating power is, in general, accomplished prior to the setting of the shutter mechanism or completion of the film winding mechanism. Thus, if the release is effected at that instant, then only the mirror mechanism may be operated without the shutter mechanism, or exposure may be effected during the winding operation.